NEW ORLEANS – The glow around Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving was never brighter than at this time last year, during All-Star weekend.

That was when Irving dazzled with 32 points in the Rising Stars Challenge before going on to take home the winning trophy in the 3-point contest and making his All-Star game debut, in which he scored 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

The headlines were flattering. “Just the Beginning for Kyrie Irving,” one read. “It’s Kyrie Irving’s World; Soon We’ll All be Living in It,” another said. Irving himself wanted the awards to be a reflection on the progress made by his team. “Everything I do at All-Star Weekend is dedicated to the Cavaliers organization,” he said.

Ah, but much can happen in a year. Irving is learning that the hard way. Despite heightened expectations, centering largely on optimism about Irving’s potential for growth, things have not gone well in Cleveland.

“For me, I don’t pay attention to anybody’s expectations,” Irving said here on Friday. “For me, it is more about what me and my teammates feel in that locker room. There have been ups and downs, but that is part of the NBA season.

"Everybody put their expectations on us, but I feel like some of us just put too much pressure on ourselves, including me. I put the burden on my shoulders, I do take responsibility for the team and being the leader.”

The Cavaliers are just 20-33, and almost every move they’ve made in the past year has not panned out.

Center Andrew Bynum could not overcome his injury problem and was kicked out of practice and suspended for becoming a disruptive presence. He was dumped last month in a trade for Luol Deng. No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett has struggled badly, and free-agent acquisitions Jarrett Jack and Earl Clark have combined to shoot 38.9 percent.

New coach Mike Brown seems to have the same problem this time as he did his first go-around with the Cavs—he has not instituted an offense that accentuates his players’ talents and his group is way too undisciplined.

Last week, the Cavaliers even took the unusual step of firing general manager Chris Grant just two weeks ahead of the league’s trade deadline. For a team still trying to emerge from the murk left behind by LeBron James’ departure four years ago, this season has been a disaster.

All year, stories have been seeping out that much is amiss in the Cleveland locker room—and that falls directly onto the shoulders of Irving, as the team leader. When the Cavs acquired Deng, he was reportedly shocked at the lax atmosphere and, “mess,” that the Cavaliers were in. Bynum even took a less-than-subtle shot at the dysfunction in Cleveland, telling reporters, “The atmosphere over there wasn't the one that kind of promoted positive energy … It was just tough at the end of the day.”

One story last month suggested that Irving might try to force his way out of Cleveland, a charge he denies. Tensions between him and guard Dion Waiters are reported to be the source of locker room strife, with Waiters expressing concern that Irving is given special treatment by the Cavs.

Some in the Cavaliers organization, meanwhile, wonder whether Irving gave much thought to conditioning in the offseason. He has appeared out of shape, and though his numbers are solid—21.5 points, 6.2 assists—he is shooting a career-low 42.7 percent from the floor and 36.9 percent from the 3-point line, also a career low. Irving was great as a rookie, but he has failed to improve since.

This pattern is not uncommon for young players in the NBA, who arrive from college highly touted and rarely criticized. Praise for big numbers early in a player’s career often gives way to harsh scrutiny when those numbers don’t yield results.

Seven-time All-Star Grant Hill went through something similar in his early years in Detroit, when he was among the league’s most popular players, but the Pistons could not get out of the first round of the playoffs.

“When I first came into the league, I had intense conversations with Doug Collins, my coach at the time, and he said this league balances you, it humbles you in some respects,” Hill said. “I think he was right. … Every great player is going to go through that. You are going to go through that criticism, you are going to go through people taking shots at you.

"You can look at the great ones of the modern era, they experienced it as well. For a young guy like Kyrie, this is probably the first time he has ever had this kind of heat or criticism.”

But Irving is staying positive, buoyed by a four-game winning streak the Cavs carried into the break. Bynum is gone and the chemistry has improved. Irving credits a team meeting that took place after the firing of Grant, just before the start of the winning streak.

“We had a team meeting after our GM was fired, we had a great team meeting,” Irving said. “We just got a lot of things off our chest, things that needed to be said. It started a little bit of a change in our locker room.”

And a change for Irving himself. Things got bad enough this year to where he indicated he was not enjoying the game much anymore. But in the wake of all the negativity that has surrounded the Cavs, Irving said the key for him was to get back to basics—removing the heightened expectations that followed his breakout All-Star weekend last year and just playing.

“I had to go back to loving the game again,” Irving said. “Just going out there and not overthinking and just playing the game. That is what I have been doing. The love of the game is what keeps me going, what allows me to get a good night’s sleep. I get to play the game I love.”